"Situation"

"Situation", off Laurel Halo's forthcoming In Situ EP, moves in circles—like a shark, maybe, or even something more mundane, like someone's leg dangling off a park bench, scuffing idle little loops in the dirt. But no two bars feel quite the same. Dubby chords scatter like water droplets on an oiled skillet, and bright chirps and whoops peel away from the grid and go slicing towards the horizon like dolphins at play. It scans as techno, but the kick drum, for once, lands anywhere but the downbeat, driven relentlessly forward by restless energy. Even so, for a rhythm that sounds modeled on a nervous tic, a sense of stillness prevails. The dominant mood is as heads-down and unflappable as introverts taking a victory lap, hands stuffed deep in pockets.